Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz (190MHz x 20)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (Supplied by Noctua)
Motherboard(s): GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)
Memory: 3 X 2GB Kingston Hyper X PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR CL9 (Supplied by Kingston)
Hard Disk(s): Western Digital 300GB Velicorapter (Supplied by Western Digital)
Operating System: Windows 7
Drivers: ATI Catalyst 9.10, 8.663.1 Beta4 Hemlock VistaWin7 Nov6, ForceWare 191.07

Today we'll be comparing the HD 5970 against all the setups that matter. This means we've got the HD 5970 against the dual GPU bad boy from NVIDIA, the GTX 295 while also comparing the model to the HD 5870 in both singular and Crossfire configurations.

Let's get started!

3DMark Vantage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here

3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.

3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.

In our first test we see what we would expect when it comes to comparing the HD 5970 to the HD 5870 in CF. The lower clocked HD 5970 comes in behind the higher clocked HD 5870 CF setup. Compared to the GTX 295, we can see in the less stressful P preset the NVIDIA offerings pull out a win. When we start cranking up the intensity, we can see that the HD 5970 comes out way ahead.